


Gear Grove

by Broken_Clover



Category: Guilty Gear
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, Family Drama, Gen, Mythology - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reality Bending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:41:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29989224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_Clover/pseuds/Broken_Clover
Summary: After chasing a mysterious twin-tailed cat into his backyard, Sin discovers a hidden world filled with magic and occupied by a menagerie of strange creatures.(Open for character requests)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. Prologue

_Chubby little hands reached out towards the night sky. He didn’t understand what any of it was or what it meant, but he was completely enraptured at the sight of little dots flashing and blinking overhead against the darkness._

_“Aren’t they so pretty? Just like tiny stars. They’re called ‘fireflies.' They have a little light in their tail, and it makes them so happy that they dance!”_

_“Fy-fwy!” He mumbled, grasping at the sky._

_“Heehee. Do you want to see the fireflies, Sin?”_

_The ground fell away underfoot, but he wasn’t afraid. It felt...free. The fireflies were no longer dancing out of his reach. His skin tingled as a couple of them landed on his outstretched arms and skittered around. The sight of them blinking in the darkness before fluttering off again was nothing short of breathtaking._

_“Fy-fwy!”_

_“Heehee, you’re a natural! They love you.”_

_He tried to reach out again, but they danced out of his grip. There was only so far he could reach while he was being held._

_“C’n I fwy too, mommy?”_

_And she was silent. The longer the quiet went on, the more uncomfortable he felt. Floating in the darkness wasn’t comforting anymore, he was afraid._

_“M-mommy?”_

_The ground became solid underfoot once more. The fireflies seemed impossibly far away. He turned in his mother’s arms to look up at her face._

_“Mommy? Why are you crying?”_

_She immediately smiled, trying to discreetly rub at her face with a free hand. “I’m alright, Sin. Everything is fine.”_

_Even as a small child, he knew she was lying. But before he could say anything, she turned and carried him back towards the light of the house._

_“That’s...that’s enough fireflies for tonight, Sin.”_


	2. Chasing Tails

Garbage day was Thursday, which meant it was the day Sin had to get off his ass and drag the bins to and from the curb. That was the agreement they had made. If he did his chores on schedule and kept the house clean, then he would be allowed to stay at home for the summer, rather than tagging along on Ky’s charity trips.

Not like Sin had anything wrong with doing good for people, or even his father’s altruistic streak. But that was always his go-to destination whenever he was off on break or when both parents were busy on the weekend. He knew his parents were just trying to make sure he was safe under supervision, but that was a much fairer excuse when he was in kindergarten and didn’t know how to tie his shoes as opposed to being in high school. Sin would take any deal he could to have some personal space nowadays. 

Even if the trash did reek. Seriously, what the hell did his parents eat?

Well, whatever. He hauled the bag over into the bin and slammed the lid down on top of it, trapping the foul smell inside. Even if it did stink, a few minutes of discomfort was worth it for a whole day of free time.

Sin hurried back inside to grab the bag from the recycling bin. At least that didn’t smell, though he had to take a few extra moments to make sure the soup can lids and splinters of plastic packaging didn’t rip through the bag and spill all over the stairs. Everything looked perfectly fine, so he slung it over his shoulder and traversed back off the front porch.

From the other side of the house came a loud clang.

“The heck was that?” He murmured aloud, dropping the recyclable bag and running back to where he had left the bins. Had a bird crashed into it? Had something fallen off the balcony and landed on it? He’d left the bin upright on the grass, there wasn’t any way it could have fallen-

“...Huh?”

Well, apparently he’d been wrong. The shock of it lasted for all of five seconds before the waves of rotting fish and old food smacked him full-force across the face. Ugh, of all the days for it to tip over…

The sound of scratching made his thoughts shift yet again. He moved slowly out of caution, taking a few steps over to get a better look at whatever was making the noise. The sight of something flicking into his field of view made him lean over even further.

Animals ran around through the backyard all the time. He was used to seeing deer, foxes, and even the occasional bear. Cats weren’t unheard of, though he’d never seen one with two tails. It wasn’t raggedy, but it wasn’t exactly clean, either, or collared. Was it a stray? Maybe that’s why it seemed so eager at the food spilled out of the overturned bin.

“Wow.” He remarked, managing to smile despite the mess piled on the driveway. “At least you’re having a good time, huh? Don’t imagine it’s much of a feast. I guess there’s some good variety, though. You probably don’t get this sort of stuff all that often, do you?”

The cat looked up at him, making a gesture that looked something like a shrug. “Not really.”

Sin nodded. “Makes sense, I- wait what?”

He’d just imagined that, hadn’t he? Cats didn’t talk. That felt like a stupid thing to say, but that was because it was supposed to be obvious. Cats weren’t supposed to talk.

But when he looked down at the cat, it had a look of shock on its face. He- he was just imagining that too, right? Cats didn’t speak, and they didn’t emote like that. Then again, they also didn’t have two tails…

Sin gave a nervous laugh. “Hey, you didn’t really just- “

The animal suddenly bolted. Without thinking, he vaulted over the trash heap and ran after it. “Wait! Where are you going?!”

He followed it down the slope of the hill into the backyard. The cat didn’t hesitate in jumping into the edge of the woods. In a moment of his own hesitation, Sin wondered if he should be running off like this, but the slowly-shrinking smear was enough of a temptation to get him to shove aside branches and run into the thickets.

“Hey! Wait, hold on! Why are you running?”

Well, _because he was chasing it,_ his mind unhelpfully provided, but it didn’t slow his running speed. He’d spent countless hours as a little kid running around on the trails, so most of the cat’s path was familiar enough that he didn’t trip over his own feet. The cat was still pretty damn fast, though, and he could only really follow it based on the split tail that bobbed behind it. The foliage was familiar, for as little attention he paid it as he sprinted by, but the brief thought flitted through his mind of going too far. It was left in the dust just as fast.

When he finally skidded to a stop, it was because the cat had vanished, rather than any sense or rationality that had managed to catch up to him. Still, he continued to push aside the brush as he waded through it, hoping he’d get lucky enough to spot another glimpse.

“That was way too close…”

His ears perked up at the noise. It wasn’t a voice he recognized, but the fact that there was a voice in the first place was puzzling. Was it some kind of hiker?

Sin followed the quiet voice, eventually managing to make his way towards a cluster of trees. As he neared, he spied a smear of abnormal color between the shades of green and brown. He very nearly spoke up to get the person’s attention, but another voice spoke over him before he could.

“I should have been more careful, I don’t normally get spotted.”

That voice he immediately recognized. So the cat _had_ talked! Sin disregarded whatever he was going to say so he could avoid giving away where he was. As he inched closer, he found no sign of any catlike features poking out of the trees. All he could make out was a shape that, if his mind wasn’t playing tricks, seemed vaguely humanoid.

“I didn’t think it would have returned so soon…”

He perked up at the sight of the odd figure. It was the same voice, but instead of a cat, it seemed to be coming from a pale-haired girl. What the heck was going on?!

The pale hair vanished from sight. Sin almost made a noise aloud, but stopped himself at the last moment. In its place, a swathe of something pink and fluffy appeared in between the cracks. 

“You know the rules, we can’t even risk something like that!” Another voice, so there were two of them? “Even though it sounds like a wonderful start to a romance novel…”

“I think I ditched him, but he’s so much faster than the other humans I’ve seen around here. He never even looked lost, I thought the ward was supposed to work on all humans!”

“Maybe there was a breach…? No, no, that can’t be right. Mr. Sol’s wards have never failed us before, right?”

“That’s true…”

“I’m sure he’s stranded in the middle of nowhere right now, Ram. I’m sure you lost him half a mile ago.”

Sin couldn’t contain his curiosity anymore. Without much fanfare, he burst into the clearing.

The first whose face he managed to see was inexplicably familiar, and even though her form was different, instinct told him that she absolutely had to be the cat. By her side was an even stranger sight, a girl with bubblegum-pink hair and a dress bedecked in ribbons, somehow all pristine white despite being surrounded by dirt.

“It- it’s you!” Sin shouted, pointing at the first. “Are you the cat that was eating out of my garbage?”

“Eek! He followed- !” The pink one jumped back in shock, though it was temporary as she gave her companion an odd look. “Wait, you were eating garbage?”

The two just as quickly regained their composure and split. The pale-haired one burst into a puff of light, before running back into the brush as that two-tailed cat. The pink one didn’t change, but it took Sin a moment to realize that the reason she moved away quickly was because she seemed to have wings growing out of her back, which flapped in a harried panic.

“W-wait, hold on!” He couldn’t run in both directions, so he extended a hand out to either. “I don’t wanna hurt you, I just want to know what you’re doing here!”

It was a futile effort, they were both gone before he could stop them. “Man…”

He kicked at a stone, trying to decide the next course of action. Clearly, startling them like that was one of the worst options, but just his luck, he probably terrified them too much to even get close again. Sin turned to look over his shoulder. Maybe he should head back home? It was hard to tell exactly what direction home was in, but maybe it would look more familiar if he headed back in the direction he came. It had mostly been a straight path out, right…?

As he deliberated, he neglected to notice the sound of footsteps padding in his direction. Sin finally snapped to attention as he noticed a massive shadow was sliding over his back. He turned around, suddenly finding his field of vision dominated by shining red. Tilting his head up to see more only added more red, layered in patterns of shining scales along a thick column of flesh, with jagged, jutting horns that framed...

“Oh, shit- !”


	3. The Beast of Gear Grove

Sin screamed, scrambling backwards and immediately falling over on his ass. He was fast, though, so he got back up almost as quickly, and broke out into a sprint. A low, rumbling sound echoed in his ears, and he tried to take that as motivation to run faster in the opposite direction.

A red-scaled hand slammed into the first by his side. Even while running, he could make out the scent of smoke. That had been all there was at first, but Sin realized another heavy step had landed on his other side, and that it was turning into a gallop. With something that had legs longer than he was tall, he had no chance to be able to outrun it. 

Still, he didn’t exactly have much of a choice given the circumstances, but it meant he was just a little less surprised when something heavy slammed into his back, knocking him over again.

As terrified as he had been before, something about his new position was just so much more vulnerable. Massive wings drenched him and his surroundings in shadow, and the fearsome figure of the creature was matched by a set of large talons. One of those taloned hands was pressed into his back, dwarfing his lower half, yet for some reason wasn’t pushing down hard enough to do anything more than keep him in place (did it prefer eating its prey in pieces?)

Sin tried not to whimper in terror as he looked over his shoulder. The thing almost seemed to grin, releasing smoke from its jaws and revealing a set of jagged teeth larger than its talons, perfect for ripping prey apart. Without thinking, Sin started to scream again.

The noise made the thing jerk back in shock. Its eyes narrowed, it opened its massive jaw, and-

“For the love of fuck, will you calm the hell down?”

That immediately shut him up. Sin wasn’t sure he’d expected a dragon to be able to speak, but if he did, it probably wouldn’t have been expecting the voice of a middle-aged chainsmoker. 

“...Wait, what?”

He watched the beast peer at him with curiosity, not letting him go but not having any real indication he had a desire to rip him to pieces. “Shit, looks like I was right...I hate bein’ right.”

Well, if he wasn’t worried about being eviscerated, Sin was going back to being horribly confused. “Hold- hold on, what the heck is going on?”

“Shuddup. That’s _my_ question.” The pressure on his back increased, and Sin took that as his cue to go silent. He felt hot air brush his back as the dragon lowered its head close to him, taking a few tentative sniffs. The heat radiated off of every scale, and the July heat felt cool and pleasant in comparison once it washed over him again.

Eventually, the claws lifted away. Sin scrambled back onto his feet, for a moment considering running again before remembering how well it had gone the last time. The dragon’s gaze wasn’t malicious, but it was intense, and it rounded out the entire package of a terrifying creature that, as far as he was aware, was supposed to be a fairytale.

“What are you…?”

Scaly lips bent into a sardonic little smile. “I’m exactly what I look like, dumbass. Didn’t your mommy tell you bedtime stories when you were a kid? I mean, _more_ of a kid?”

“Hey!” Sin protested. “I’m seventeen! I’m not a kid!”

“So what, I’m four-thousand and ninety. All humans are babies to me.” The creature’s expression darkened. “Now enough shooting the shit. You’d better start explaining.”

“Explaining? Explaining what?”

“You’re slow, kid, and you’re trying my patience. How the hell did you even get in here?”

Sin recoiled in confusion. “What do you mean, ‘in here,’ this’s my backyard! Or- or my _parent’s,_ I guess, but-”

A heavy stomp crashed into the grass, missing him by a wide margin but still causing him to jump. “Stop playing stupid! My wards have never failed, so there’s no way that some _human-”_ Suddenly pausing, Sin watched as those glaring golden eyes took on a glint of confusion. “...Tell me about your parents.”

“Huh? That seems like a weird thing to tell a stranger.”

The dragon huffed, smoke curling from his lips. “You wandered in here on complete accident, and you’re currently looking me right in the eyes. I think we’re beyond your basic human conventions.”

It seemed like a fair point, weird as it was. He only knew how interaction with people worked, dragons were something else entirely. “I don’t- I dunno, my folks are like...normal people. I mean, my dad’s a jackass, but that’s not _weird_ or anything, why?”

“Nothing? Nothing at all?”

“Man, my mom’s idea of a wild night involves playing board games and ordering pizza, if there was anything interesting, I _wish_ there was more to say. You really think I woke up this morning and said ‘hey, today I’m gonna run off into the woods and go lie to a- to some dragon!’”

“I have a name, jackass.” He replied, sounding more frustrated by that than anything else.

“Well, sorry for not knowing everything about something that’s supposed to only exist in kid’s books.” Sin felt like he should be more bewildered by the concept of seeing an actual flesh-and-blood _dragon_ talking to him, but maybe being annoyed took priority. But, despite himself, Sin could never hold onto anger for too long. “So, uh, if you’ve got ‘wards’ or whatever, does this mean this place is yours?”

That got the dragon to relax somewhat. He sat down in a way sort of like how cats did, tucking limbs close to his body. It didn’t do much for making him look less intimidating. “You humans are obsessed with your fancy papers saying who owns what and who’s allowed to go where. We have no formal structure like that. My wards simply hide us from outsiders.” At that, he glowered at Sin pointedly. “I keep everyone safe, and _try_ to keep these idiots from attacking each other. And having a human here fucks up all of that.”

The boy nodded, trying to follow along. “You keep saying ‘us’ and stuff like that, like are there other dragons?”

_“Fuck_ no.” The noise came out as a hiss. “Dragons don’t share territory. If another one didn’t know better than to try and come onto my space, I’d throw him out.”

“Didn’t you just say ‘I don’t care about who owns what land?’ It sounds like you care a lot about who’s allowed where.”

The dragon stood back up, and Sin was reminded of how easy it would be for it to break every bone in his body. “Listen, kid. The only reason I haven’t turned you into barbecue is because there’s no logical reason you should have gotten inside in the first place.” The creature paused for a second, before letting out another smoky huff. “You really got nothing, huh? You _sure_ you’re human? Fine. I know someone who might be able to figure this out for us.” He turned away. “Follow me.”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Sin took a step back. “I’m not going anywhere with you!”

“Trust me, kid. I don’t want you in my forest, either.” The dragon called over his shoulder. “Only reason I give a shit about anything other than kicking your ass out is because you broke the laws of physics. I don’t like you, and I don’t care if you like me. If I promise you won’t die, will you promise to get the hell out as soon as possible? The others would freak out if they saw a human in here, and I don’t want to deal with a bunch of panicking monsters. Do we have a deal?”

Sin was still skeptical, but he supposed between walking off on his own and potentially getting lost, and tagging along with someone who actually knew where things were, the latter was preferable, even if said someone was an asshole.

“Fine. Are you gonna fly me there?”

“Fuck no. You’ve got legs, you’re walking.” Sin realized quickly that he had to start jogging after the massive beast right then and there, as even having only taken a few steps the thing was already far away. If he wanted to keep up with something that big, he needed to move fast.

“Ugh, fine. Figures I meet an actual dragon and he reminds me of my friggin’ dad.” He grumbled. “So, uh, I don’t think you told me your name. Or- are you not supposed to tell your name, isn’t that something dragons do?”

“That’s _faeries,_ dumbass, and I don’t even think they have that custom anymore. I dunno, though, can’t remember the last time I talked to them.”

Sin was taken off-guard at his nonchalance. Was that a joke? Were there really actually faeries around here? 

“So...can you tell me it?”

The dragon made a reluctant grumble from deep in his throat. “Sol.”

“Sol! That’s cool.” The boy nodded. “I’m Sin.”

“Yeah, I’m real charmed. Hope you’re not expecting a lot of conversation on this road trip.”

Man, Sin thought to himself. Dragons were _assholes._


	4. Bloody Sharp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sol and Sin hit a roadblock on the way to their destination.

Sure enough, Sol had been a quiet guide for most of their trek. Sin couldn’t tell if he was happy to not have to worry about accidentally pissing off a dragon that already didn’t like him, or if he was uncomfortable having to walk through an unknown place with an unknown guide to an unknown destination in what was basically complete silence.

The only noise that interrupted the quiet background thrum of chirping birds and squirrels chittering was the sound of Sol’s heavy footsteps, and the wind. And, surprisingly, the latter was the more confusing one. It had been so hot and dry out for the past few days, and he hadn’t been expecting the breeze to kick in. Though he was more than happy to get a break, and feel some wind blowing the sweat off his face. It was a bit of pleasantness to balance out the whole experience.

He couldn’t resist letting out a pleasant little sigh. “Finally…”

Sol slowed, turning to his travel partner and giving an inquisitive grunt.

“Oh. Uh, just the wind, it feels nice.” He explained. “It was hot out, so it feels nice.”

“Hnn…” The dragon gave the air an inquisitive sniff, then dropped his head. “That’d better not be what I think it is…”

Sin tilted his head in confusion. “Huh? What’d I do wrong?”

“Not you, it’s-”

The wind suddenly picked up, throwing stray leaves and blowing the boy’s hair in his face. With his larger size, Sol had no worries of being blown over, but he still seemed frustrated by the odd weather.

“You have got to be _kidding_ me.”

Sin tried to cover his face and keep things from flying in his eyes. “What the heck?!” He tried to shout over the sound of the wind. “Where did this come from?!”

A shadow loomed over him, bit when he looked up, Sin found not another giant creature glaring down at him, but a wing extended to try and guard him.

“Don’t get blown over!” Sol barked. Sin was more than happy to take refuge under the massive leathery shelter. The dragon’s leg made for a decent hiding spot, being thicker than Sin’s entire torso, and the wing was folded down to cover the creature’s side. 

Sin still had no idea what the heck was going on, or what would even be able to make winds this strong out of nowhere. This wasn’t normal weather, even if Sol hadn’t seemed vaguely concerned about it, something in his gut just told him it was strange. He knew it was reckless, but he was too curious to resist peeking out from behind his hiding place. Staying hidden behind Sol’s leg still felt safe enough, but as soon as he poked his head out, the wind was blowing hair in his eyes again.

As he watched, Sin could eventually make out an odd shape hovering back and forth. At first, he had assumed it was another piece of debris being thrown around, but he noticed a too-perfect pattern in the way it moved. Could it be the cause of the wind? He was still trying to wrap his head around the whole dragon thing, but Sol had indicated there were other ‘things’ around. Was it a faerie, maybe? 

Even as the wind suddenly died down again, it was hard to tell. The thing floating in the air definitely seemed alive, but it was difficult to make out anything. It was definitely smaller than Sol, although when he thought about it, that wasn’t especially specific.

Sin was suddenly made aware of the fact that he was hiding beneath a living, breathing creature as it shifted. He’d felt safe when using Sol as a barrier, but it was also clear that Sol could have very easily stepped on him without even realizing. A few steps were taken to put him away from the giant smashy claws, but that was only so helpful.

“Hey! What’s that?”

The boy recoiled at the strange, harsh voice, and realized in a panic that he’d gotten too far away from his hiding place and been spotted. Sure enough, the floating blur was suddenly rushing towards him at breakneck speed.

His reflexes were fast, but they were nowhere near fast enough to outpace whatever was currently literally running circles around him. Every time Sin tried to turn his head and catch up, it was in a completely different spot. Still, he tried to keep his face protected, as though it would fly right into him.

“What’s this, then?” The odd voice asked. Sin felt something sharp graze the outside of his arm, and he tried not to flinch. “It’s fleshy! Oh, it’s a big fleshy naked thing! What’ve you brought back this time, chief?”

“Will you two get out of there?!”

The shade suddenly moved away as Sol took a few heavy steps to the side. Sin blinked to acclimate to the light, and carefully lowered an arm.

He wasn’t sure why he was expecting anything to make more sense. The floating thing was still there, but it was as vague as ever. With the light, he could make out a dull sandy tinge to the thing’s...body? Fur? It had called him ‘naked,’ so-

“Wait a minute.” Sin tried to scowl at it. “Who’re you calling naked?”

Sol grumbled in frustration, making a display of covering his face with a hand. “You couldn’t even _try_ to have stayed hidden, kid?”

“Sorry…”

“Nah, nah, nah! Chief, you should know better than to try and hide things from me! Some friend you are!” The creature halted in the air for all of a half-second, and Sin could make out a long, weasel-like body. “I mean, how long have we known each other?”

“Too long.” Sol replied. “And we’re not friends, you just won’t leave me the fuck alone.”

“Oi, trying to be all cool around the newcomers, how typical!”

It was hard to tell if it was carrying sickles or if its claws were sickle-shaped, but either way they appeared plenty sharp. It didn’t help that the weasel-thing would _not_ stop bobbing back and forth in the air, and trying to follow its movements to make out details was a little nauseating.

Sin blinked, and he found one of those blades carefully nudging his arm with the flat end. “Jeez- !”

“Huh, kinda jumpy, innit?” In another blink, it was hovering at his other side. “So what’d you bring back, chief? Too big for a faerie, ‘n no wings, so that’s out, not seein’ any gills, no feathers or fur!”

“It’s _none of your business.”_ Sol growled in a low, dangerous voice. 

The pitch took Sin off-guard, but it seemed to hit the weasel even harder. It dropped and hit the ground with a thud, like its body suddenly weighed something. Sure enough, when Sin looked down to watch it untangle itself, he noticed the creature’s body more resembled a ferret, with long, blade-like claws. A scrap of faded cloth was tied around its neck like a bandanna.

“Sonuva- !” The thing complained, voice far higher than Sol’s but still feeling too deep for something of its size. Beady eyes looked Sin over. “Oi. Mind if I use ya to jump off? Chief _knows_ I suck at getting liftoff when I’m on the ground.”

Sin glanced between it and Sol, completely lost once more. “I...I gue-”

Before he could finish, he could feel something scrambling up his back. The knife-ferret didn’t weigh much, but the speed it moved at continued to bewilder him. It settled atop his head, with an abnormally long tail (apparently _also_ equipped with a built-in knife, because of course it was) curled around his shoulder.

“Hmm.” It leaned down to look Sin in the face. “Well, it’s human- _shaped,_ but you said humans can’t get in here! But it sure looks an awful lot like one…”

A sable-colored blur rushed by, and Sin felt a breeze as the creature began hovering in the air again. “Chief! I give up. What is it?”

The dragon grumbled again, and Sin was starting to get the feeling that frustrated noises made up most of his vocabulary. “It’s a trespasser.” Sol relented. “And it’s at least _partly_ human.”

Sin wasn’t sure what reaction he was expecting, but the weasel found him fascinating all over again, whirling around in circles to cling to his side or prod some part before flying off again.

“Aha! Jus’ _knew_ my instincts were right!” The creature cried in triumph. “C’mooon, chief! You _know_ how much I love humans!”

“How much you love _attacking_ them.”

“Hey, dial it back, man! Not _my_ fault I was born with knives for hands. And that’s real rich coming from someone who eats them! At least I patch up all the holes I make!”

In a moment of misguided boldness, Sin managed to reach out and grab the thing as it looped around again. “‘Attacking?’ I’m not just gonna let you- ow!”

After the initial second of adrenaline wore off, he realized he’d grabbed onto one of the many sharp blades. As soon as he flinched back and let go, a long line of red began welling up to bisect his palm.

“Oi, don’t start freakin’ out, I can fix it.” He was not at all eager at the idea of letting it get near him again, but the creature was still fast. As soon as he tried to pull away from it, it was already at his hand again. From nowhere that he could make out, Sin saw it pull out a little glass vial. “Alrighty, just a drop or two should do it!”

“Don’t- !” The idea of taking some random liquid from a floating knife ferret was probably something stranger danger classes had warned him about (it genuinely might have, he did tend to nap through them) but again, it moved too fast for him to properly resist. A couple drops of something pale and watery dripped into his cut palm. And as fast as it had appeared, the slice fused back together, leaving behind healthy pink flesh.

“What the…?” Sin turned his hand around in the light, just to make sure he hadn’t imagined it. It was like he’d never been cut. “How did you do that?”

Sol sighed in defeat. “Sin, this is Axl. He’s a kamaitachi.”

“Cammy...what?”

“Ka-mai-ta-chi!” Axl responded with cheer, tucking the vial away back into whatever abyss it had come from. “Sickle-Weasels! Not much of a western-mythos sort of thing, if I’m rememberin’ right. We’re wind spirits!”

“Don’t make it sound so noble.” Replied Sol. “Other wind elementals use their powers to harness nature, _you_ use them to play tricks.”

“Did’ja not just see the part where I fixed it all up? I can’t ever please you.” Axl had finally slowed down to the point where Sin could actually follow him. “A-ny-way, whatcha doing all the way in here, human? Chief always says humans can’t pass into here! So how’d ya get in?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” The dragon interjected. “‘m taking him to get looked at, see how human he actually is.”

“I getcha, I getcha, I-” The weasel suddenly jerked back in a panic. “Wait, you’re takin’ him to doctor baldy? Are you _nuts?”_

Sin didn’t have the slightest clue what that meant, but Axl’s fear was enough of an indicator that he absolutely did not want to go there. “What are you doing?! What are you going to do to me?!”

_“Enough.”_ Sol roared, silencing the both of them with one word. “Man might have a screw loose, but he knows more about magical genealogy than anyone else. Only person around here that’d be able to figure this out. So don’t go scaring the little brat before we even get there, I’m having enough of a day as it is.”

“Riiiight, right, I getcha.” Axl reached out to pat Sin on the head in a very fake display of reassurance. “I’m just joking, you’ll be fine, kiddo! Guy knows his stuff! I’m just, uh, yankin’ yer chain, as the saying goes. But, uh, I’ve got… _stuff_ to do, so I gotta go. Bye!”

By the time Sin was able to process his words, the weasel was kicking up more wind and flying off into the woods. “Nice to...meet you…”

Sol snorted. “Coward. Come on, human, let’s get going.”

Axl’s nervous tone was still sticking in the back of Sin’s mind as he turned. “Are you _sure_ this is safe…?”

“Kid, if I wanted you dead, I would have eaten you half an hour ago. I promised you I wouldn’t kill you, remember? Now hurry up. Knowing my luck, half the damn grove is gonna bump into us before we can make it there.”


	5. The Paranormal Pediatrician

“...Well, we’re here.”

Sin didn’t know how to react. For as little as he knew him, Sol didn’t seem like much of the joking type, but this wasn’t especially funny, anyway. Just when he thought things couldn’t get any more weird and confusing, there was something else to trip him up.

“Doctor Baldy lives in this rotten old shack?”

That managed to get Sol to laugh, though briefly. “First of all, his name’s Faust, so don’t go running in calling him bald. Second, he doesn’t live here, it’s just his clinic. And third, it just looks like a shithole.”

“Rrrright.” Sin replied. “But it’s not _actually_ a shithole?”

“Don’t get smart with me, kid.” The dragon rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Fine, you want proof? I’ll meet you inside.”

Sin looked between the half-collapsed shack and Sol’s giant body. “How? _I’ll_ barely fit in there!”

Sol didn’t reply. Instead, Sin watched as he- 

“What.”

Defying all physics, logic, and reason, Sol managed to squeeze himself into the doorframe without a hint of effort. What he’d thought was a rigid frame warped and expanded slightly to give him more space, but Sol still fit inside a space far smaller than he was, and vanished into the building that he should have collapsed with his size from the inside.

Sin didn’t hesitate in following him, stopping to reach up and feel the tilted doorframe and see how it stretched. But, when he tried, there was nothing but solid, inflexible wood. Because of course there was.

Shaking off the encroaching insanity, he turned to see that, much like the door, the rest of the building followed no sane logic, taking the form of a neatly-furnished and virtually spotless waiting room high enough that Sol had no need to duck, even though from the outside there should have been nothing but a rotted-out room with a collapsed roof barely a fourth of its size.

Sol was utterly unshaken by all the nonsense, and simply strolled up to the empty front desk. “Don’t fall behind, kid.”

“Alright, alright.” Sin tried to catch up, but found himself scanning every corner of the space as he passed through it. He didn’t understand what he had to be in a rush for, considering how completely empty the place was, and with nowhere else to go. There was no door behind the desk, and no secretary to meet them. Just rows and rows of chairs, and not much else.

“Uh...no offense, Sol, but I don’t think anyone’s here.”

“Hnn.” It wasn’t much of a response, so Sin tried to fill in the blanks. Were they just supposed to wait? That was the only thing he could think of. But he had no idea who they were waiting for, or where they would even be coming from. He tried to take cues from the room around him, but it was just as dull and colorless as it had been the first time.

Really, the only thing of interest (as in, the only thing that wasn’t white or beige) was a cartoonishly contrasting doodle sketched onto the wall. There was nobody around who could have drawn it, but the jerky coloring indicated it must have been drawn by a child. It seemed to depict a girl in a nurse’s uniform, smiling vacantly into the room.

“Heh,” Sin said, approaching the wall to lean against it. “Sucks I don’t have any markers on me, otherwise I’d draw an outline.”

“Oh, would you like a marker, sir?”

_“GYAAAH!”_

In a frustrating display of common sense, the floor was hard and it hurt to land on. Sol laughed at the sight of the downed human.

“Oh, that one _never_ gets old…”

Sin would have been annoyed, if he were not also terrified out of his wits. He looked back at the wall, and- nope, nope, this was _definitely_ a dream, there was _absolutely_ no way the drawing was in a different configuration, he must have just remembered it wrong-

The drawing gave a polite curtsy. “G’morning! I’m Fanny, Dr. Faust’s assistant! Are you here for a walk-in, Mr. Badguy?”

-and it was _talking,_ moving and talking like it wasn’t lines doodled on a wall. Dragons and flying ferrets were one thing, but living drawings had to be crossing some kind of line.

“Nah, not for me.” Sol said, utterly unfazed. “I need the doc to look this one over and tell me what he’s made of.”

“A paternity test?” She asked, looking the dragon up and down...somehow. “All due respect, Mr. Badguy, I’m pretty sure he’s not yours.”

“Don’t be cute, we have a potential security breach. Is he busy or not?”

“Alright, alright, I’ll go ask and see.”

From his place still on the floor, Sin watched the drawing walk along the wall. As she approached the juncture to the back wall, she leaned over, making her head disappear into it. He could make out a brief, muffled conversation, and back out it came.

“The doctor will be out to see you in just a few minutes!” She responded with a smile. 

Sin tried to form words, but couldn’t manage to express what he wanted. “How are you- what’s- what- I-”

“Hold that thought a moment, please! I need to get a new patient file for you.”

Fanny started walking again. But rather than move across the wall, other two-dimensional shapes began sliding into view from the opposite side. They were barely more detailed than she was, but they still managed to serve their purpose as she hopped up onto the zigzag stairs. It would have made for an interesting animation trick, but Sin was slowly coming to terms with the fact that the sight before him was completely real.

The stairs moved out of view as the girl climbed them, eventually plateauing into another minimalist facade of drawings that appeared to resemble filing cabinets. Sure enough, much like Fanny herself, the static image was able to move, with her sliding open a drawer and removing a square.

“Here we are! Okay, let’s just get the paperwork started.” Fanny retrieved an equally two-dimensional pen from another cabinet. “May I have your name, please?”

“Uh…” Sin swallowed to try and wet his throat. “S-Sin, my name’s Sin Kiske.”

“Kiske, Kiske, don’t have too many Kiskes in our filebox! And coming in for a genealogy test...any particular symptoms we should know about ahead of time?”

“What do you mean? I’m not sick.”

“No, no, not sick.” She shook her head. “Sometimes peculiar symptoms can give us a bit of insight on what you’re mixed with! Scaly patches, abnormally sharp fingernails, excessive hair growth during cloudless nights, things like that. Anything come to mind?”

Sin shrugged. “Nope. I get these weird faint headaches sometimes, but my dad just says it’s because I stared at the sun too much as a kid.”

Even when muffling it, Sol’s laugh all but shook the room. Fanny still scribbled something down on her board. “Got it! Alright, please just wait until the doctor is ready to see you.”

“Hmph. At least it’s quiet in here.” Sol found a space to sit in between rows of chairs, rolling on his side and stretching his wings out. 

Despite the other’s relaxation, Sin couldn’t force himself to calm down. He was still coming to terms with the secretary, but he was reminded of Axl’s words on what exactly this doctor must have been like. Sol seemed to trust him, despite him ‘having a screw loose,’ whatever that meant. Maybe he’d meant it literally, and he was some kind of robot? It seemed like anything was possible. All he knew for certain was that the longer he stood around in this weird office, the more anxious he was getting.

“This is freaky.” Sin said. “This is just so damn freaky.”

“Is there anything I can help with, sir?” Fanny trotted over to where he was standing, and Sin took a nervous step away from the wall.

“No, nothing. I’ll- I’ll just wait.”

The girl nodded. “I see. Feeling a little stressed? That’s totally normal, lots of people find going to the doctor stressful.”

Sin wasn’t sure how to express how the idea of going to a doctor was currently the _least_ nerve-wracking part. Though she was confined to the wall, at least as far as he knew, he still briefly flinched back as she seemed to try and reach out towards him.

“Could you please come closer, Mr. Kiske?”

He gave Sol a pleading look, but he looked uninterested in the two of them. And...Fanny seemed like a nice girl, weird as she was. So he had no reason to be wary, right?

Reluctantly, he approached the wall. “Okay, what now?”

She stuck a hand into one of her dress’ pockets. “Cup your hands and put them on the wall, please. Like you’re trying to catch a ball.”

“Like this?” Sin tried a few times before earning a little noise of approval. Fanny moved her own hand over until they almost overlapped. And, unexpectedly, he felt something brush his fingers.

“Here!” The girl smiled at him, somehow slipping something small, solid, and tangible into his palm. “This’ll help with your nerves!”

“What is this?” Should she really just be handing out pills like that? 

Sin lifted his hands closer to his face, revealing a pair of somethings, one red, one white, and both squishy.

“Gummy bears!”

“Fa~nny, I’m ready to get to work!” A cheery voice called. When Sin turned towards the voice, all he found was a new door in the wall that hadn’t been there ten seconds ago, situated behind the front desk.

“Ah! Dr. Faust is ready to see you now!” The girl clasped her hands together. “Please, head on inside!”

As she spoke, the door swung open by itself. Sol gave a tired groan and hauled himself back up onto his feet. “That was barely a break. At least I’m not wasting more time than I need to. After you, kid.”

Like the one that had let them in, it was perfectly normal-sized for a human. Sin had no issue passing through, and he was relieved to see an almost normal-looking exam room on the other side. Even if, with his minimal interior decorating experience, the carpeting and elaborately-patterned wallpaper made the place look like it was trapped in the 1950’s.

As soon as his eyes fell on the doctor, however, any thoughts about the décor were flung out of his thoughts. His appearance was far more human than any of the others he’d encountered so far, but there was still one glaring fact that made Sin feel wary- the man was _massive,_ at least eight or nine feet in total. And it more than showed, with his lanky frame decorated by an immaculate white coat that somehow fit his bizarre proportions. Something about it reminded him of a scarecrow. The bag he appeared to be wearing as a hat didn’t help. Sin wasn’t entirely sure how the man could do any doctoring considering there was only one eyehole punched into it.

“Welcome, welcome!” The doctor said, beckoning him further inside. “Such a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kiske! And Mr. Badguy, welcome back!”

“Not all that happy to _be_ back.” Sin glanced over his shoulder to watch the tail end of Sol miraculously squeezing through the too-small doorframe again. “Got a serious issue for you to look at.”

“Wait, wait a minute.” Sin interrupted. “I thought she called you that as a joke. Is that actually your name?”

Sol looked off into the distance, trying to look aloof. “Yeah, so what?”

“So- so you’re a dragon. A dragon named _Sol Badguy.”_ Sin could feel his lip twitch. “Your name. Is _Sol- “_

Sol not-so-gently swatted his back, sending Sin flying off his feet to smack right into the doctor. Faust took it in stride, somehow picking his airborne patient up with ease and swinging him around to put down on the exam table.

“Ha-up! There we are! Now, let’s get a good look at you, shall we?” Faust snapped one of his gloves. “Definitely human-shaped, but looks aren’t everything! And since humans aren’t supposed to be able to get in here, I assume that’s why you decided to stop by! Probably some sort of magical species mixed in somewhere?”

“Figures you’d get it right on the first try.” Sol nodded. “Kid hasn’t been any help, so I figured you might be able to do an actual test.”

“Hey, it’s not like I had anything to say!” The boy protested. “I’m completely normal!”

“Of course you are!” Said Faust. “Doesn’t mean you can’t have _some_ kind of crossbreeding in you! Now please, hold still a moment while I take a study sample.”

Sin was going to complain again, but was taken aback by the sudden sight of an oversized syringe in Faust’s hand.

“Wh- what’s that for?”

“Silly question, I need it for work!”

“The fuck you do! Don’t come near me with that!” Sin shouted, scooting back on the table.

Faust tilted his head. “What do you mean?” He asked. “Coffee helps me focus on the job!”

From underneath the man’s paper bag came a long, wiggling thing, and it took Sin a moment to realize it was a tongue. Much like Faust himself, it was far too long. And once again, Sin found himself the only one fazed by it. Faust pressed down on the syringe, releasing a dark liquid to fall on his absurdly long tongue and be slurped up. 

Sol was laughing at him again. Sin sent him a glare.

“Y’know, you _could_ give me a warning about this stuff before it happens.”

“I could.” The dragon shrugged. “But it would be a lot less funny.”

Sin felt a brief, sharp pinch by the crown of his head. When he turned back around, Faust was clutching a strand of blonde hair.

“There we are! Barely hurt a bit, right?” The doctor stepped back to...uh…

Okay, Sin thought to himself, maybe the office wasn’t so normal after all. In between the kitschy patterns on the carpet, a metal hatch had appeared and opened itself. From it came a copy of Faust’s own arm, offering up a rectangle of glass. The real Faust took it, and the duplicated limb gave a thumb’s up before ducking back into the hatch and slamming it shut.

“Just wait a moment, please! I need to analyze this.” The doctor sat down behind a carved wood desk. Another metal door appeared on its surface, and rather than another hand, a ragdoll-like thing hopped through, carrying a microscope.

“Thank you very much!” Faust took the device and gave the creature a pat on the head. “Now back in you go!”

It was happy to oblige, leaping back into whatever abyss sat beyond the door. The strand of hair was sandwiched between the glass and another transparent square, and it was placed under the microscope lens.

“Mmhm, mmhm, I see…” Sin was no science expert, but it looked more like Faust was playing with the spinning dials more than anything else. He made a good show of looking like he was doing something, but Sin could only guess how much he could have been able to learn from just a strand of hair.

“Anything jumping out at ya, doc?” Sol asked.

“Well, I would hope not! Scalp pixies are a terrible nuisance. Why do you think I shave my hair off?”

Sin gave Sol another aside glance. “Is this guy for real…?”

“Of course I’m real!”

 _“Jesus- !”_ If _one_ more person jumpscared him again like that today, Sin was going to flip a table. Faust was right by his side again, giving off no impression anything was amiss. And despite his bizarre mannerisms, the man still managed to radiate the sort of cheery aura only manageable by children’s-show hosts. It was genuinely hard to tell whether he was human or not.

“Just one more test, bear with me, please!” From another pocket, Faust took out, of all things, a magnifying glass. Sin was absolutely certain it wasn’t a real medical tool, it looked like it was made of plastic and pulled right out of a child’s mail-order science kit. But the doctor continued to act with complete seriousness, picking up an arm to look at it intensely through the cheap lens.

“What is this for?” Sin tried to ask, cut off on the last syllable as Faust took him by the chin and very intently stared at his face.

“Tracing residue! I could have sworn I just saw…” Faust and his lens zeroed on one eye, and Sin could feel a headache brewing. “Aha! I knew it!”

As the man finally back away and gave him some space, Sin rubbed at his temple to try and dispel the pain. “Knew what?”

“Well, it seems Mr. Badguy was correct!” The man announced, with a dramatic little twirl. “You’ve got a bit of funny blood in ya!”

That couldn’t be right. It didn’t make any sense. He _had_ to be human, what else would he be?

“What are you talking about! I don’t have any fur, or wings, or stuff like that.”

Faust nodded. “Yes, yes, clearly. It’s possible it will never physically show, or perhaps it will do so in the future. From what I’ve seen, it’s definitely a little diluted, not a lot of markers I spotted. I’d say a good couple generations since any crossbreeding happened, but someone in your family tree definitely hooked up with something nonhuman at one point. If you were able to pass through a dragon ward on total accident, I’d say that it’s either a species immune to magic altogether, or something with inherently more magical power than a dragon.”

Sol made a noise of genuine surprise. “Dragons are pretty high on the food chain, so I guess that narrows it down a lot. Damn.”

Sin looked up at Faust. “So what does that mean?”

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t line up with any of the samples I currently have, so I can’t conclusively determine what you are, exactly. If you give me a week or two to convene with a colleague, I’m sure I’ll be able to look into it further, if you wish.” He replied. “But, it still offers a few insights. Here, take this!”

The doctor tossed something in his direction, something dark and smooth. Sin turned the piece of fabric over in his hands. “An eyepatch?”

“It’s a refinery lens!” Faust explained. “My scans show most of your magic is concentrated up in your right eye. It’s see-through, but wearing it will help you manage your magical reserves without it overtaxing your brain. Plus, you should be able to clearly see magical wards and interact with them, that way you won’t be wandering around and bumping into things without noticing.”

“Huh.” Sin slipped it on, but sure enough, he could still somehow make out everything around him. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Faust continued on. “Now, for the other bit of important info. Because you’re classified as a magical creature at least in some part, that means you fall under our legal blanket.”

“Well, that fucks things up considerably.” Said Sol. “Couldn’t keep quiet about that bit, could you, doc?”

“Wait, so what exactly does that mean?”

“You passed through Sol’s ward unintentionally, but because you have no outstanding marks for banishment- that is to say, you haven’t murdered anyone or stolen anything- you have the freedom to enter and exit the grove as you please.”

Silently, Sin sat and thought. “But...Sol said I had to leave.”

“It’s outta my authority, kid.” The dragon shook his head in defeat. “Besides, you’ve already punched through my barriers, so apparently it’s not like I could keep you out if I tried.”

He had no idea exactly how this magic worked at all, but Sol must have known that. Even if he didn’t, he didn’t see why Sol would admit he didn’t have the authority to throw him out unless it was true.

“So...I can come back?”

“At your own discretion!” Said Faust. “Like I said, I’d like you to come back to my office once I’m able to get more information. But until then, feel free to look around! If you haven’t met them already, there’s plenty of other creatures living in the barrier, and I’m sure most of them would be happy to meet someone new!”

“Don’t encourage him, doc.”

“There’s really more things living around here?” Asked Sin, turning to Sol with shining eyes. “And I can see them?”

The dragon groaned. “Oh, I already don’t like where this is going…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As it says in the fic's descriptions, I'll now be taking any requests for characters, if people have them! I already have mythical creatures and cryptids for the majority of the GG cast, but I didn't have a specific order in mind for them to appear. So if there's a character you'd like to see show up sooner than later, feel free to comment and let me know!


	6. The Family Shrub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In his quest for answers, Sin tries to dig into his family history.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy! I genuinely wasn't expecting to have another chapter out so quick, but I suppose the inspiration just hit.
> 
> This chapter was prompted by commenter PB, who mentioned the idea of seeing how Ky and Dizzy fit into the plot.

Sin was ready and eager to go door-to-door introducing himself, but as soon as he stepped out of the doctor’s office, he realized the sun was starting to head towards the horizon.

“Oh, shit! My parents! My dad’s gonna start freaking out if I’m not back before they get home!”

Sol was all-too-happy to escort the intruder back to the grove’s edge. Sin wasn’t sure where exactly the grove ended and his own backyard started, but upon his second approach, he immediately noticed a long, flame-red line carved into the dirt. It extended as far as he could see in either direction, only punctuated by peculiar sigils in the same color.

“Woah.” He found himself hesitating to step over one of the patterned hexagons on the ground. “So these are your wards?”

“Yeah. Don’t freak out about stepping on them, it shouldn’t hurt. Won’t damage ‘em, either, that’d just be a useless spell if it broke whenever it got walked through. I take it that lens is working?”

With how light it was, and the fact that he could see clean through it, Sin had entirely forgotten he was wearing the eyepatch in the first place. “I think so? I definitely didn’t see all the red lines before.”

“That’s the point. Without being magically tuned, you wouldn’t be able to perceive the grove at all. The wards make it a ‘Backyard,’ a place folded inside visible reality. If a full-blooded human was walking through here, one step over the ward line and they’d be on the opposite end of the grove. But you managed to trip and fall right into the space in-between.”

“Weird. But I think it makes sense.” This was a lot of oddness to have heaped on him in one day, but Sin felt like he was starting to wrap his head around the important stuff. “I definitely wouldn’t have bumped into this on my own, I was- oh, jeez…”

“What?”

He put a hand over his face. “There was that- that cat-girl, the one with the two tails. I chased her in here, and I think I managed to spook her and that other pink one. Man, I hope they’re not pissed off at me.”

“Ramlethal?” Sol asked. “So this is _her_ fault, then.”

Sin recoiled. “Don’t hurt her or anything please! It’s my fault for chasing her, I just saw her eating out of our garbage and-”

The dragon gave him an odd look. “She was eating out of your garbage…?”

Well, this was deja vu. “Y-yeah. Point is, you’re not gonna do anything to her, right?”

“Gonna chew her out for it, but you’re not human after all, so I guess I can’t do much more than that.” Sol nudged him in the back, though much gentler than he had before. “Now get going, I’ve got other shit to worry about.”

“Wait, so, if I do come back tomorrow, should I wait for you?”

“If I couldn’t already smell you from a mile away, I can sense whenever anyone steps over the barrier. Just don’t show up at the goddamn crack of dawn, capiche?”

“Yeah, okay! G’bye Mr. Sol!”

“Yeah, yeah, see ya later, kid.”

The path back home wound up being short and familiar. Beyond the reaches of the ward, it was all terrain he was used to. It made the trip easier, but at the same time, Sin couldn’t help but wonder how he’d never noticed something so close to his own house. Frankly, maybe he’d been missing out.

Though to his dismay, once he was able to climb the hill and go around the side of the house, Sin found the garage occupied. Stifling a groan, he jogged the rest of the way to the front porch and let himself in.

“I’m back.” He called, dejected. “You’re home early, huh?”

“Sin!” Ky had a phone in his hands, and it was nearly dropped upon seeing his son. “There you are, I was worried!”

“Yeah, sorry.” The boy ran a hand through his hair. “I was out on a walk.”

His father looked ready to say something, but Dizzy interrupted, stepping over to take the phone from his hands.

“Honey, we’ve talked about this. We promised not to pester him about it, remember?”

Ky faltered, before nodding. “R-right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t- I’m sure you were keeping yourself safe.”

“Did you have a nice walk?” Dizzy turned to her son, but suddenly took on an odd expression. “Sin, what’s that on your face?”

Shit, he’d forgotten about the eyepatch again. His mother approached and cupped his cheek. “Are you having another headache?”

“No, no, I just found this while I was putting stuff in storage, and put it on for shits and giggles.” He pulled the garment off his face and stuffed it into his pocket. “Forgot I was wearing it.”

She nodded. “Oh, I see. Well, good on you, doing some tidying! I picked up pizza on the way home from work, so it can be a reward for you being so responsible!”

His mother might not have been the most partying of individuals, but Sin wouldn’t deny he enjoyed a nice pizza.

The three of them sat down at the dinner table not long later. Sin happily tore into a slice of meat lover’s, while his mother helped herself to a piece of mushroom. Ky fiddled with his shirtsleeves for several awkward minutes, before munching listlessly on a carrot stick that had come with the pizza.

“You okay, dad?”

“I am, Sin, thank you.” Ky gave him a gentle, if unconvincing smile. “Just a lot to worry about at work.”

“Ah, no more work for the night!” Said Dizzy. “Why don’t we talk about something else, to keep your mind off of it?”

Sin felt a lightbulb go off in his mind. “Hey, I’ve got something. Can you guys tell me about your parents?”

He wasn’t sure what it was, but his question didn’t seem to improve the atmosphere at all. His mother looked over and asked, “What makes you ask that, honey?”

He shrugged. “Just kinda interested in family history, that sorta thing. I was thinking about it, and I don’t really know much!”

And he did genuinely mean it. The thought hadn’t occurred to him much before, but Sol had drawn his attention to it. When he tried to dredge up memories of his grandparents, Sin found very little. He could make out vague faces and scattered details, but he realized that he barely knew anything about them.

That, at least, got them to relax a little. Dizzy clasped her hands together. “I’ve brought mine up before, haven’t I?” She asked. “Hehe, well, for what little there is to say about them. I’ve lived in this town for as long as I can remember, but their house was a few blocks away from the one we have now. They were wonderful, Sin, you would have loved them. I know we visited their farmhouse back when you were a little thing, I’m not sure if you were even old enough to remember it now! But father passed away when you were two, and my mother when you were about four.”

Sin flustered. “Oh...mom, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“No, it’s okay, sweetie.” She smiled sadly. “Really. I just realized I haven’t thought about them in a while. They were already older when they raised me, so it wasn’t something completely out of the blue. But I’m sure they’d be so proud to see how big you’ve gotten and how smart you are.”

Even with her reassurance, he still felt thoroughly embarrassed. “And, uh, what about you, dad?”

Ky blinked. “Me? Goodness, I can’t remember the last time I talked to mine. We haven’t visited them since you were a baby, Sin.”

“Why?”

The man gave his son an uneasy smile. “I suppose I don’t need to sugarcoat much, now that you’re older, do I? I had very controlling parents. I had very little freedom in what I was allowed to do and what careers I would be allowed to pursue. If I wasn’t going to be a doctor or a CEO, they wouldn’t allow it. I cut off most ties with them once I was old enough to move out, I don’t keep in contact with them.”

That definitely sounded far more intriguing to Sin. Maybe one of his grandparents was part-dragon? “How’ve I never heard about this?”

“Well, like I said, I don’t think that’s the sort of thing to talk to a little kid about.” Ky shook his head. “And I’d prefer to not think about it, if I can. And- I know sometimes I over-shelter you or worry too much about where you are, but I promise I’m trying to give you a bit more freedom and responsibility. You’re a big kid now, I need to respect that. I don’t want to do to you what my parents did to me.”

This was nice and all, but Sin really needed to know more about the people. “They were really that bad?”

“Sin-” Dizzy gave him a look.

“No, honey, it’s fine.” Ky reassured her. “If I didn’t want to talk about it, I wouldn’t have brought it up. I suppose a lot of my memories are biased, but when I was about your age, I was barely allowed out of the house unless it was for schoolwork. And if I made a mistake, they never let me forget it.” He paused. “I know when my father came to visit when you were born, he chewed me out for something I did when I was twelve.”

“So I _have_ met him before?”

“Only a couple of times. The last time he visited, you weren’t even walking yet. But my mother- your grandmother- I wouldn’t let her anywhere near you. My father may have been strict, but she was something else entirely…”

Sin perked up at that. “She was, huh? Would you say she was ‘a monster?’”

“What? I...suppose I could...that sounds a little harsh, though…”

The conversation started and stopped after that, but none of it was particularly illuminating. Sin didn’t feel like he’d gotten any closer to any tangible proof. He’d gone in expecting something glaring and obvious would jump out at him, but no such luck. He had to have _some_ relative who was something cool and magical, like a dragon or a faerie or something, but he couldn’t even say with confidence which half of the family it had to come from. 

Maybe his parents didn’t even know, themselves? Faust had said it was from a while ago, maybe it was so far up the family tree that it had been forgotten about? Or maybe their parents kept it a secret and never told? Anything was possible. This would require more digging around, but he hardly knew where to start.

“Sin?” His mother asked, distracting Sin from his internal monologue. “Are you okay? Your dinner is getting cold.”

++++++

After dinner was the time when he would _really_ be able to make some progress. At least, that’s what he’d thought. There were plenty of questions he had, and, ideally, plenty of sources to look through. But once again, he found his expectations being crushed by the reality of the situation. Maybe trying to find references in old childhood books was a bit of reach. Internet digging on what magical creatures were more powerful than others proved equally useless, unless he was interested in starting a tabletop RPG. How was there so little to be found?

Well, his own thoughts quipped in the back of his head, he _was_ trying to find logical information about fairy tales. That probably had something to do with it.

Running around all day had been tiring, and research even moreso. Sin wanted to stay up and keep picking away for info, but after the fifth jaw-cracking yawn in ten minutes, he took the hint and switched the computer off for the night.

_“Wonder what else lives in there…”_ He thought as he laid in bed. Even if he was exhausted, that little flicker of curiosity made it so his thoughts refused to stop whirling about so he could actually fall asleep. To calm himself, Sin tried to follow the lines of glow-in-the-dark stars that were scattered across his ceiling, stuck up there when he was young and now too nostalgic (and lazy) to take them down, even if he’d outgrown them.

_“Sol mentioned faeries, so there’s gotta be at least a couple in there, right? And Axl’s a kamaitachi, I think I saw that on the Japanese page, maybe they’ve got other Japanese demons and stuff? Was that cat-girl, Ramlethal, cat monsters were a Japanese thing, weren’t they? Does being a monster from Japan automatically mean they’re Japanese, too? ‘Ramlethal’ sure doesn’t sound Japanese.”_

Without realizing, the artificial green glow of the star stickers warped and morphed into a cozy yellow, then into long strands of fog that painted across the sky. He didn’t recognize any of the changes going on around him, or why he was suddenly not in bed anymore.

“Gotta go to the store and buy those birds for mom!” Sin announced aloud, utterly unconcerned at how or why he had been dropped into the task.

The path winding impossibly into the distance was purple. The grass was purple. The rows and rows of columns were purple. He had nothing against purple, but he didn’t like it enough to pattern everything in it. His mother liked purple though, didn’t she? Maybe he could grab one of those columns on the way back and put it in his pocket to bring it back to her.

Sin continued along at a jaunty pace, moving both inhumanly fast and getting no further down the road. The environment around him ebbed. There was the furniture store downtown, the hospital Ky took him along to for charity trips, a hotel he’d seen in a movie once, somehow with its insides visible even with him standing outside.

“Maybe I should go on vacation. I’m sure there’s plenty of rollercoasters inside the hotel, and I like rollercoasters!”

He sensed a low noise behind him, even though it didn’t make a sound. The world smeared as he turned, snapping into place again when he stopped.

A golden sickle was embedded blade-down in the dirt. Sin felt compelled at the sight of it, and reached out. The world was blurry and shifted every other second, but something about the sickle felt more...tangible. From a glance, he could make out every molded shape on its handle, the golden swirls that made up the base of the blade, the eyelike markings that glinted in its reflection, all in perfect detail.

His hand fell on its grip. The sickle was cold. Why was it cold? Nothing else around here felt like anything. Why was that? Wait, nothing here made sense, he realized, which meant it wasn’t real-

The coldness was joined by something small and warm. Through his rapidly-dissipating dream, Sin assumed he was feeling the blanket on his body, coming back into his awareness. But when he looked down, there was something reaching around from behind to hold his arm.

What was happening? Why did only those two things feel so different from everything else?

He knew he was almost out of time, but he couldn’t resist his own curiosity. He turned to whatever the hand belonged to.

At the last moment, before he woke up, Sin caught a glimpse of something harsh and yellow staring back into him.


End file.
